The sky outside was dazzling and bright.
A series of intense explosions lit up the high heavens, heralding the arrival of numerous giant "sail ships."
In the distance, at the edges of the city, these clusters of ships appeared to be engaged in battle with the military. Unfortunately, the distance was too great to see clearly.
Following closely behind, a variety of strange flying machines, all carrying Bacatan lifeforms, swarmed toward every corner of the city. Their numbers were overwhelming.
Were they all soldiers?
Perhaps these beings were once ordinary "civilians," just like the people in the Longcheng Imperial View Residential Complex. But now, they had become an entire civilization of warriors. Meanwhile, the millions in this human city were true civilians.
The so-called talent awakening wasn't going to prolong anyone's life by much.
The complex grew eerily quiet. From his floor, Lin Qun looked down. Below, it was pitch black, with no sign of movement or sound.
The remaining two Bacatan beings seemed to have vanished.
The survivors hid wherever they could. Few buildings had someone like Li Xinghe—a "super expert." Most people dared not make a sound, praying desperately that the terrifying creatures wouldn't appear at their doors.
Lin Qun felt a growing unease.
In his building, the corridors were noisy.
Fan Wenchuan's group of survivors was undeniably more confident.
Lin Qun took a deep breath, sat back in his corner, and resumed his investigation.
The battlefield ranking system had been activated.
To view and log into the data, one first had to confirm an ID.
After some thought, Lin Qun decided against using his real name and instead entered the ID he frequently used in games: "Nightshadow."
With that, the battlefield ranking system officially opened.
A new interface appeared before him, offering three options: Global Rankings, Civilization Rankings, and Regional Rankings.
The Global Rankings option was grayed out and inaccessible, as the global battlefield hadn't officially begun. This was merely a preliminary landing phase.
Only Civilization Rankings and Regional Rankings were available.
These were individual rankings.
Lin Qun first checked the Civilization Rankings.
It was a massive, constantly updating leaderboard, refreshing in real time.
At the top were unfamiliar symbols, translated into languages Lin Qun could understand, along with their corresponding regions.
The rankings were based on contribution points.
The leaders of the Civilization Rankings were all from alien civilizations.
The top ten alone had amassed over ten thousand contribution points each!
This meant they had killed tens of thousands of opposing lifeforms.
It didn't take much imagination to know that their victims were undoubtedly humans.
The ever-updating numbers represented thousands of human lives lost.
From the start of the preliminary landing phase to now—barely two hours—so many had already perished.
At the very top of the list was a Bacatan named Bacarre, whose location was noted as Shanghai!
A chill ran down Lin Qun's spine.
This was a horrifying and brutal clash of civilizations.
In this war, only victory mattered. To win, civilizations had to annihilate one another.
To kill and gain contribution points was the sole objective for all participants.
Could he survive?
Lin Qun didn't know.
The internet was down.
Not a single human name appeared in the top tens of thousands of the Civilization Rankings.
Feeling heavy-hearted, he exited and switched to Regional Rankings.
The Shanghai Region was divided into five districts: East, West, South, North, and Central, with separate rankings for each.
Finally, in the Eastern District Rankings, Lin Qun spotted traces of humanity.
The highest-ranked human was a person named Xia Qing, who had amassed ten contribution points.
This meant Xia Qing had killed ten Bacatan beings.
Was this person a soldier? Or an extraordinary expert?
Scrolling down, Lin Qun found his own name at ninth place.
"Killing just three puts me in ninth… This situation doesn't look good."
He reasoned that some hadn't yet registered their IDs, particularly military personnel who had likely killed many Bakatans.
Even so, the outlook was grim.
Battlefield Rewards
Lin Qun found a section explaining the rankings.
Being highly ranked on the leaderboard came with rewards.
Maintaining the top spot for 24 hours yielded substantial contribution point bonuses.
The higher the leaderboard, the greater the rewards.
For example:
Global Rankings: 100,000 contribution points for first place. Eastern District Rankings: 30 contribution points for first place.
Rewards diminished progressively down to the tenth rank.
At ninth place, Lin Qun would earn 1 contribution point if he held his position for 24 hours.
Looking higher on the list, his eyes burned with ambition.
If he could climb to seventh, he'd earn 3 points.
Reaching fifth would grant 5 points.
He now understood why the Bacatan beings were slaughtering so ferociously upon landing. They were all vying for rankings!
"They're hunting us like monsters for experience, but they're also our experience!" Lin Qun thought.
Waiting passively wasn't an option. He had to exploit his skill and become a stealthy predator, gathering ten contribution points to draw another card.
Contribution Point Marketplace
Contribution points had other uses beyond ranking rewards. There was also a Marketplace.
This marketplace offered no daily necessities—only weapons. From multi-million or billion-point items like black hole weapons, super battleships, and extinction devices to simple knives for just 1 contribution point.
The system was designed to drive civilizations into madness, forcing them to fight, slaughter, and compete. The more one killed, the closer they came to acquiring top-tier weapons capable of obliterating entire enemies in a single strike.
Lin Qun's heart raced as he browsed.
Who had orchestrated this twisted war? What kind of entity could initiate such madness?
There were no clear victory conditions in this global civilization battle.
Did it end only when all other civilizations were annihilated?
Lin Qun exhaled deeply.
He didn't care about the broader picture. His priority was survival and getting stronger.
With only 3 contribution points, he couldn't afford another card draw yet, but he could exchange for weapons.
His eyes fell on something that made them light up:
Energy Recovery Potion!
"Damn, there's really a blue potion!" he exclaimed.